The present invention relates to the field of networked printing systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to printing systems and methods for use in a casino gaming environment which provide improved functionality, including the ability to quickly and easily create and print custom coupons and vouchers at a gaming machine printer and to obtain in real-time printer status of multiple printers on the network.
In a casino gaming environment, it is known to provide data to gaming machines (e.g., slot machines and other types of gaming machines) from a central system server over a network. The Assignee of the present invention, TransAct Technologies Incorporated (TransAct), has developed a dual port printer for a gaming machine capable of receiving print instructions from a local controller resident in the gaming machine via a first port, and receiving print instructions from a remotely located central system server via a second port. For example, proprietary data, such as voucher (cash) information can be received over the first port from the local machine controller and printed, while non-proprietary data (coupon data) can be received over the second port from the central system server and printed. Such a dual port printer is described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,903 and its related family of patents and pending applications, which are incorporated herein and made a part hereof by reference.
In such systems, the data provided to the gaming machine printer by the central system server or by the gaming machine itself is in a predetermined print layout or format loaded onto the server or resident in the gaming machine. Thus, casinos are unable to easily modify the print layout or format or to provide custom coupons targeted to particular players. Typically, software updates are required to change the print layout or format, which are time consuming and costly.
It would thus be advantageous to provide casinos with the ability to layout and customize coupons and vouchers in a quick and easy manner. It would also be advantageous to enable the casino to quickly send such custom coupons and vouchers (or templates for custom coupons and vouchers) to the gaming machines. It would be advantageous if individual gaming machines, or select groups of gaming machines, could be targeted with different custom coupons or vouchers. It would also be advantageous to enable a Casino Host to quickly identify a particular player and provide that player with a custom coupon or voucher via the gaming machine printer. In addition, it would be advantageous to easily obtain printer status of all or a group of printers on the Casino network in real-time or near real-time, without significantly affecting network overhead and data throughput.
The apparatus and methods of the present invention provide the foregoing and other advantages.